Chateau Ste. Michelle 2014 Limited Release Jonté Sauvignon Blanc, Yakima Valley, $20
As a Ste. Michelle employee, longtime Yakima Valley winemaker Katie Nelson spent several weeks working the 2014 harvest in the Marlborough region of New Zealand, and she produced this delicious small lot of Sauvignon Blanc for Chateau Ste. Michelle a few months after her return. (Nelson joined Charles Smith’s team last year). This stainless steel approach offers amazing and tantalizing aromas of gooseberry pie, orange oil, Fuji apple, lychee, fresh mint and a faint whiff of tomcat. There is dramatic tartness on the entry with Granny Smith apple and white peach flavors as gooseberry joins in. Fresh herbs add complexity, and its dry approach with the building of slatiness will quench your thirst and pair beautifully with oysters. These wines are available to club members, at the Woodinville tasting room and online.
Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 250 cases
Alcohol: 13.5%
Earlier this June Colleen and I did our second tour of some wineries out of Ashland. Wineries in the afternoon and plays at the Shakespeare Festival in the evening. Our last stop coming out of the Applegate Valley was Schultz Winery at your recommendation. It was a pleasant surprise. Greg was in the tasting room with the two dogs and his wife was out working in the vineyard. Colleen found her big buttery Chardonnay! They shipped a mixed case home,
(2 cases flew FREE on Alaska) plus 3 other cases by Fedx for the trip. Two weeks ago you did a Viognier review. You described theirs as “oaky and buttery” so we bought a case. Drank it tonight and it was as advertised! Thanks for the review.
By the way, congratulations on the journalism awards. I am glad that professional persons like yourselfs can be recognized without a printing press running behind them. Things are well at our house and we follow you every week and buy lots of your recommendations.
George and Colleen Hoyt